United Arab Emirates coverage

What the United Arab Emirates numbers mean

Two numbers matter and only one of them is the one every seller quotes. The typical speed, 96 Mbps, tells you what a good moment looks like.

The tenth percentile, 31 Mbps, is the one that matters. It is the speed in the worst tenth of the day, when the cell above the station is full and everybody around you is on it too. A country with a high median and a low floor is a country that works beautifully right up until the moment you actually need it.

If the trip depends on video calls or tethering, plan around the busy figure rather than the typical one.

What happens in United Arab Emirates when the network is busy

Congestion is not a fault, it is a Tuesday evening. The question is what your eSIM can do about it, and for most travel eSIMs the answer is nothing: one wholesale agreement per country, one network, and no way out except buying a second eSIM from somebody else while standing in the street.

Here, Orbislo traffic runs over Etisalat and du. When the network you are on degrades we move you to another one, mid trip, without you asking, and tell you afterwards rather than interrupting you at the time.

Mobile operators in United Arab Emirates

• e&: e& UAE had 16.5 million subscribers at the end of June 2026, up 6.4 percent in a year, after adding almost one million mobile customers over twelve months.
• du: du had 9.3 million mobile customers in the second quarter of 2026: 2.1 million postpaid and 7.2 million prepaid. The company tied the slip in prepaid to a significant decline in tourism over the quarter.
• Virgin Mobile: The UAE has two licensed network operators, e& and du. Virgin Mobile also sells mobile service but as a virtual operator, not a third network.
• e& and du: The regulator renewed the public telecoms licences of e& and du for 20 years, from 9 August 2026 to 8 August 2046, replacing the licences issued in 2006.

Older networks in United Arab Emirates

• The regulator announced in August 2021 that 2G-only devices would no longer be sold in the UAE from June 2022, as part of retiring 2G, which the country had used since 1994.
• e& set the end of 2023 as the date to finish shutting down its 2G network and listed feature phones such as the Nokia 105, Nokia 3310 2G and Samsung Guru that stop working on it. A 3G or newer phone left on a 2G setting must be switched over.

5G in United Arab Emirates

• In the n78 band e& holds 300 MHz, from 3,300 to 3,600 MHz, and du 200 MHz, from 3,600 to 3,800 MHz. In n41 du holds 2,496 to 2,596 MHz and e& 2,596 to 2,690 MHz.
• The regulator began allocating millimetre wave frequencies between 24.25 and 27.5 GHz for 5G in phases from September 2020, under the UAE Strategy for 5G and Beyond covering 2020 to 2025.
• In 2021 e& and du were each allocated 1 GHz of millimetre wave spectrum in the 25.5 to 27.5 GHz range. The regulator assigns spectrum on operator request under its national plan rather than through auctions.
• e& commercially enabled 5G standalone in 2023 and is rolling out 5.5G, also called 5G-Advanced, on it nationwide, starting with major cities, busy areas and key venues. Phones gain 5.5G through firmware support, and very old SIMs may need replacing.
• du launched 5G standalone in 2023 and installed hundreds of 5G-Advanced base stations after trials in October 2023. The regulator has also trialled 5G-Advanced in the 6 GHz range using 400 MHz of bandwidth.
• Both operators have rolled out standalone 5G since 2023. du reports 98.5 percent 5G population coverage, and e& is reported at a similar level, with virtually all significant towns and major transport routes covered.

Network notes for United Arab Emirates

• The renewed licences require e& and du to spread international connectivity across multiple land routes and submarine cables, remove single points of failure, and run disaster recovery plans that are tested regularly.
• In September 2025 failures on the SMW4 and IMEWE submarine cables in the Red Sea near Jeddah slowed mobile and home broadband on both Etisalat and du significantly on the Saturday night, with complaints still coming in on the Monday.